Killer chick lit

I just finished Goodnight Nobody by Jennifer Weiner, which is kind of a mix of chick lit and mystery. It was entertaining enough as I read it, and is helped by Weiner’s engaging writing style and good characterizations. My problem is that I started reading others’ reviews on Amazon, and am now picking up on things that annoyed me.

Like Good in Bed, the main character is good friends with a woman who seems very different from her. In both cases, everyone seems super nice and fun to hang out with, but I also kind of wonder what the two of them talk about when they’re just chit-chatting about things not related to the plot. In this book, the main character (Kate) chats with another applicant at a job interview and then bam! they’re BFF.

And in thinking back, one of the main plot points is what happened between her and her neighbor Evan. God knows I understand unrequited crushes, but the fallout from an encounter between them seems completely disproportionate to what actually happened. The book jumps between the current action of a murder, with flashbacks to how Kate wound up unhappily living in Connecticut. Weiner dropped hints about Evan and Kate’s history, and the actual climax of that subplot was underwhelming. It was one of those moments where you read it, then think, “Seriously? That’s it?”

I’m conflicted about Weiner’s treatment of the other housewives Kate interacts with in her town. I lived in Connecticut, in a town probably not that different from Upchurch, and unless things have drastically changed in the past 20 years (which is totally possible) (and man, 20 years? I’m old!), the portrayal seems a bit off. She gets behind the façade of a couple of them, but I’m not sure whether we’re meant to assume that there’s more to all of these women than what Kate initially thinks, or believe that these few women are the exception to the snotty rule.

Honestly, though, it was an enjoyable read. I think I may enjoy Meg Cabot’s Heather Wells series, which is another chick lit/mystery hybrid. Maybe it’s the overarching story or the cuteness that Heather was a teen pop star. Seriously, it’s always amusing.

And I just want to take a moment to marvel at Meg Cabot. I’ve been debating whether she has some ghostwriters working for her. Since 1998, she’s written 57 books, according to her book list. 57. Not including pieces she’s written for anthologies. Seriously, I don’t think that’s possible. Admittedly, most of them don’t require much research, but that still seems insane. Good fun to read, though.